In this book, literary critic and political theorist Werner Hamacher shows how Hölderlin's late poetry develops and enacts a radical theory of meaning that culminates in a unique, unprecedented, and still revolutionary concept of revolution that begins with a groundbreaking understanding of language.

Professor at the University of Frankfurt and founder and Director of its Institute of General and Comparative Literary Studies, Werner Hamacher (1948-2017) was also the Emmanuel Levinas Chair and Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature at the European Graduate School. Hamacher co-founded and edited the Stanford book series Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics.


Peter Fenves is the Joan and Sarepta Harrison Professor of Literature at Northwestern University.

Julia Ng is Lecturer in English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she co-directs the Centre for Philosophy and Critical Thought.

Anthony Curtis Adler is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Yonsei University's Underwood International College.

Introduction: Versing, Ending: Hölderlin in 1971
1. Version of Meaning: A Study of Hölderlin's Late Lyric
2. Parousia, Stone-Walls: Mediacy and Temporality, Late Hölderlin
Afterword: Toward a "Non-Metaphysical 'Concept' of Revolution"